


You can have half.

by Ilerre



Series: Ways to Say I Love You [11]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilerre/pseuds/Ilerre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can have half.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You can have half.

0

Merle could barely remember a time when Daryl and Rick Grimes hadn't been friends.

Daryl was six, on the small side and the kind of kid that didn't (couldn't) make friends.

Rick Grimes was nine, tall, athletic, had a solid support group of friends and a strong loving family with two parents, and he didn't seem like the kind of kid to take on outsiders.

After Merle had gotten Daryl away from their father, away from the shack they had called a house since the kid's birth, Merle had relocated them in a house that would become their perfect heaven.

Merle couldn't avoid putting him in school anymore; first because it was illegal, and second because CPS was still way too close and way too prompt to come knock down his door and take his baby away from him.

So, Daryl had been enrolled in King County's primary school, a few miles from their house, but the best school around, or so Merle had been told.

The first few months, he wasn't surprised to find Daryl eagerly waiting for him behind the gate in front of the school every afternoon, small hands clenching the bars like a prisoner on death row.

But then as the months progressed, as Daryl slowly opened himself to the world, and turned from a tiny closed shell to a giggling, bouncing little boy, Merle wasn't surprised to hear him talk about the friends he'd made.

First there was Rick.

Nine year old Rick who helped him when a bunch of older kids tried to bully Daryl because he didn't have a mother or father, and proclaimed Daryl his new friends in front of the whole school and promised repercussions to anyone hurting him.

Then, there was Carol.

Carol, who despite being only nine, seemed to mother him every chance she got.

There was also Maggie.

Maggie was the same age as Rick and Carol. She was a tomboy, and never backed down from a fight when she felt people had wronged her or her friends. And it happened often where Daryl was concerned, because his baby brother was often taken as a target by bullies.

Quickly after that, Merle heard of Glenn.

Glenn was eight. A bit silly, but lovable, and very, very funny, according to Daryl who never tired of telling Merle of all the pranks and funny jokes the kid made at school. 

It took a while before Daryl talked about Michonne.

Michonne was one of those strange kid. Quiet, observant and who inspired awe and fear in smallest kids. She was nine, friend with Rick and Carol since kindergarten, and the reason why Daryl didn't talk about her at first was because her skin was black, and Daryl still feared being beaten for having talked to what their father called  _a nigger_ .

Merle had cried that night after the little boy had finally stopped sobbing and apologizing to fall asleep in exhaustion. Suffice to say, Merle didn't give a rat's ass about that little girl being black or purple, or green. All he wanted was for Daryl to feel safe at school, at home, in his own damn skin, and not to fear getting beaten half to death or wiped for having friends.  

A few months after getting to know them a bit more, Daryl got invited to Maggie's birthday party at her father's farm. Merle drove them both, conscious that it was Daryl's first party with friends, and waiting everything to be perfect for his baby brother.

He sat at ta long picnic table dressed outside, checkered tablecloth and cakes and sweets littering the table, talking with some parents, exchanging formal tidbits about work and their kid's mischief at school, all the while keeping an eagle eyes on his baby.

Daryl was running around, laughing and jumping, and chasing butterflies and staring in awe at the horses, and Merle could have choked on his damn heart as it leaped in his throat, because he had never seen Daryl look so carefree and just acting so much like a kid. 

That's when he met Beth, Maggie's little sister. She was five but still taller than Daryl, and the kid had pouted a great deal when he'd been made aware of it. She was sweet, loved to sing and dance and looked so pure and innocent, it made Merle's gut twist in disgust at the thoughts of Daryl small body covered in scars and cigarette burns.      

He jerked out of his thoughts when he felt Daryl bounced against his side, small arms encircling his waist with a giggle. Merle chuckled and lifted him by the arms, rubbing their noses together before sitting him on his laps.

He watched Daryl accept a large piece of pie with a polite thanks to Maggie and Beth's mother, ignoring the women's gushing at his good manners, and Merle smiled lovingly when trusting and adoring clear blue eyes looked up at him. "You can have half," he said sweetly.

0

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbetaed. Please feel free to point any typos you saw or missing words, or any sentences that just don't make any sense :)
> 
> **[SUBMIT A PROMPT HERE](http://hillbells.tumblr.com/submit) ******


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